Fond modelling memories and moments of joy

[Stokesy44]

Feeling a bit nostalgic this morning so I thought I would post some memories and moments during builds that I look forward to.

Memories

Possibly my first ever kit, the Airfix Jet Provost Trainer - in gloss red, complete with finger prints!

Getting the bus into the nearby town and going round the TWO toy shops that stocked model kits

Dad taking me out to the car and lifting up the boot lid to reveal the Airfix 1/24 109

First time I ever used an airbrush and watched the magic of the pre-shading gradually disappearing

Moments of joy

That moment you put the fuselage together, complete with rudder, for a single engine fighter and you've got a real aircraft in your hands for the first time during the build.

Applying decals - excluding modern jets - and seeing the kit come to life

Wiping down a clay wash on an AFV and pretending you know what you're doing

The postman knocking on the door - never gets old

Banter with, and encouragement from, your peers

Realising you have a hobby that is a continuingly evolving process when you learn a new technique

That's just a few off the top of my head...….. how about you guys?

[digger303]

Wiping down a clay wash on an AFV and pretending you know what you're doing
Banter with, and encouragement from, your peers
Watching the base coat go and and the whole thing changes before your eyes in seconds.
Applying decals - excluding modern jets - and seeing the kit come to life
The postman knocking on the door - never gets old

[Twokidsnosleep]

I am going with the opening of a shipping package; cracking open a new kit and fondling through her parts, decals and instructions ;looking at old kits you remember making as a child.

[alextheblue]

Great thread Stokesy!

For me modelling as a kid was glue everywhere, hand painting and never finishing a kit. Most of my builds ended up being targets for my air rifle!!

My moments of joy now are anything to do with painting and weathering. For me, happiness is the gentle hum of an air compressor as you hold your breath in anticipation of that first pass of paint going down!!

As for pretending I know what I'm doing, it's the only skill I possess!!

[KalebB]

Hmm

Building my first kit, it was a Hanomag 251 from Tamiya. It was glue bombed to hell and brush painted. But gosh it sure was some of the most fun I had ever had!

Another one would have to be getting to go to a hobby shop for the first time. Seeing all the kits and possibilities of what could be done with each one was awesome

[RangerNeil]

Not too many memories - the joy of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy from injuries received.
One that sticks and is as valid today as it was 40 years ago is the thrill of getting a new kit and sitting down with the instructions and sprues going through the build, ID'ing the parts as I go.

[Kevthemodeller]

Oh much the same, for me but replace your dad with my Nan

I spent yesterday afternoon going through old Airfix, Revell and Tamiya catalogues trying to work out how many kits I built as a lad. I stopped at a 100 Modelling was and after a very big gap, still is a very big part of my life and may it remain so fro the remainder of it

[Gary30]

I don't know if any of you guys ever visited Chester back in the 80's/90's but there was a toy shop in the Grosvenor shopping precinct (I can't remember the name!) but my parents used to take me here as a treat every now and then, and they had all the 'normal' toys on the ground floor, but in the corner there was a tiny stair case, that descended steeply into a basement area.....where they had a full on scale model grotto, it was heaven for me, kits crammed in floor to ceiling and an old man behind the counter, usually fixing an RC aeroplane or various other electronics stripped into a thousand pieces, great memories of that place. Sadly closed now and re-opened as something else.

[Hawkmoon]

First plastic kit was 1/72 Airfix buy in a bag Sopwith Camel in sand yellow plastic built it with my dad at around 5/6 years old. Been hooked ever since.

What really tales me back is the smell of burnt fuel from my DC 0.75 Merlin as I ran after a chuck n chase free flight early on a Saturday morning in Sutton Park.

[Stokesy44]

Not too many memories - the joy of Temporal Lobe Epilepsy from injuries received.
One that sticks and is as valid today as it was 40 years ago is the thrill of getting a new kit and sitting down with the instructions and sprues going through the build, ID'ing the parts as I go.

Sorry to hear that mate.

I know what you mean about cracking the box. That's why I love to go to actual shops if I can so I can get a look see before I buy. with the internet and inbox reviews you can get an idea of what you're going to get but nothing beats an actual look with your own eyes

[Stokesy44]

I don't know if any of you guys ever visited Chester back in the 80's/90's but there was a toy shop in the Grosvenor shopping precinct (I can't remember the name!) but my parents used to take me here as a treat every now and then, and they had all the 'normal' toys on the ground floor, but in the corner there was a tiny stair case, that descended steeply into a basement area.....where they had a full on scale model grotto, it was heaven for me, kits crammed in floor to ceiling and an old man behind the counter, usually fixing an RC aeroplane or various other electronics stripped into a thousand pieces, great memories of that place. Sadly closed now and re-opened as something else.

Absolutely. I can remember exactly where the kits were in the 2 toy shops in Swanley and that was 35-40 years ago. After we moved closer into London I would get the bus to Lewisham and go to Beatties which had some serious model space in store. Beatties became ModelZone and ModelZone is no more.

[Stokesy44]

I am going with the opening of a shipping package; cracking open a new kit and fondling through her parts, decals and instructions ;looking at old kits you remember making as a child.

I chuckle when I go to shows and see vendors that specialise in very old kits. Airfix ship kits set me off and I always seem to find a HMS Belfast or an HMS Ark Royal. Them was the days.

[Stokesy44]

Wiping down a clay wash on an AFV and pretending you know what you're doing
Banter with, and encouragement from, your peers
Watching the base coat go and and the whole thing changes before your eyes in seconds.
Applying decals - excluding modern jets - and seeing the kit come to life
The postman knocking on the door - never gets old

Peas in a pod my friend, good to share the crazy around!

[Stokesy44]

Great thread Stokesy!

For me modelling as a kid was glue everywhere, hand painting and never finishing a kit. Most of my builds ended up being targets for my air rifle!!

My moments of joy now are anything to do with painting and weathering. For me, happiness is the gentle hum of an air compressor as you hold your breath in anticipation of that first pass of paint going down!!

As for pretending I know what I'm doing, it's the only skill I possess!!

Wow, that's almost poetic! I had problems with patience when I built as a kid, worst experience was applying decals to an airliner while the enamel was still tacky. Dad has some rather stern words with the young Stokesy after that

I destroyed an Airfix Lancaster by setting light to it in the garden. Burnt a nice black circle into the new turf. Dad have to have more words after that.

[Stokesy44]

Hmm

Building my first kit, it was a Hanomag 251 from Tamiya. It was glue bombed to hell and brush painted. But gosh it sure was some of the most fun I had ever had!

Another one would have to be getting to go to a hobby shop for the first time. Seeing all the kits and possibilities of what could be done with each one was awesome

The classic polystyrene cement tube with its metal tip, many a surface destroyed by the Glue Gods!

[Stokesy44]

Oh much the same, for me but replace your dad with my Nan

I spent yesterday afternoon going through old Airfix, Revell and Tamiya catalogues trying to work out how many kits I built as a lad. I stopped at a 100 Modelling was and after a very big gap, still is a very big part of my life and may it remain so fro the remainder of it

Now that would be a trip down memory lane! The hobby is so different now, with the internet and new manufacturers. My mind boggles at the kits and tools available now, just by hitting a few key strokes. I get a weekly email from Hannants detailing their new releases and its like catnip to me I have to hide the wallet every Sunday.

[Stokesy44]

First plastic kit was 1/72 Airfix buy in a bag Sopwith Camel in sand yellow plastic built it with my dad at around 5/6 years old. Been hooked ever since.

What really tales me back is the smell of burnt fuel from my DC 0.75 Merlin as I ran after a chuck n chase free flight early on a Saturday morning in Sutton Park.

Nice, great to hear from someone who builds to fly. Awesome stuff.

[Tomcat64]

Another one here who's Dad got him into building even though he wasn't really into it himself.

Our first kit was the Airfix PS Great Western and Mum still remembers if Dad found a part or instruction step that looked a bit tricky he'd say "we'll just leave that til later shall we..."

Other than that growing up in what was then a small farming village I remember the delight in finding out that the local newsagent had started stocking matchbox kits which filled in the gaps between occasional trips into town. We had a great Beatties in Swindon too - the ground floor was the usual toys and stuff but upstairs was just all kits & figures. And I think it was mandatory to have the old guy behind the counter fiddling with a radio controlled car

These days I still enjoy looking through a kit & the instructions for the first time, and still get a great sense of satisfaction when I get to the end of a build; especially with some of the more complex dioramas I've taken on.

And of course picking up ideas and just generally goofing about with you lot on here has become a great source of inspiration and pleasure over the past few years, and it's been great to actually meet up with a few of the usual suspects

[Donkeywalloper]

I think all the posts in this thread tick a box for me.
Thank you Neil for the reminder of the Matchbox Kits.
My Dad handed me some Trueprint Wallets the other day, that I instantly recognised as photo prints, but any kid today would not know what they were. Remember the insert inside for Negatives, which reminded you Never to touch the Negatives, but you had to as they always fell out.
I flicked through them and found some pictures of models I made as a lad.
Quite a few pictures of figures with the Black-Dot eye, that today looks kind of creepy, and even back then, was creepy
I still get the greatest thrill from opening a new kit and reading the instructions, and having a furret through sprues upon sprues.
Great thread,
DW

[RangerNeil]

Sorry to hear that mate.

I know what you mean about cracking the box. That's why I love to go to actual shops if I can so I can get a look see before I buy. with the internet and inbox reviews you can get an idea of what you're going to get but nothing beats an actual look with your own eyes

Thank you sir Life is what it is

We are very short of actual shops around here. We had a Beatties in Romford and another at Thurrock Lakeside - obviously both gone now. Then a Modelworld opened in Lakeside - it was my go-to whenever the wife went shopping down there but that too has gone now, I believe they relocated but for the life of me I can't remember where.

One of the things I really like, having discovered scalemates.com, is that sometimes they include a PDF of the instruction sheet in the kit reviews. Because of that I just added the Edouard kit of the Bristol F2B to the wishlist.

[digger303]

Sorry to hear that mate.

I know what you mean about cracking the box. That's why I love to go to actual shops if I can so I can get a look see before I buy. with the internet and inbox reviews you can get an idea of what you're going to get but nothing beats an actual look with your own eyes

Thank you sir Life is what it is

We are very short of actual shops around here. We had a Beatties in Romford and another at Thurrock Lakeside - obviously both gone now. Then a Modelworld opened in Lakeside - it was my go-to whenever the wife went shopping down there but that too has gone now, I believe they relocated but for the life of me I can't remember where.

One of the things I really like, having discovered scalemates.com, is that sometimes they include a PDF of the instruction sheet in the kit reviews. Because of that I just added the Edouard kit of the Bristol F2B to the wishlist.

Maybe
8QX3+VJ Sittingbourne, United Kingdom

Yeah scalemates is great......so much you can do with it.

[Gary30]

One of the things I really like, having discovered scalemates.com, is that sometimes they include a PDF of the instruction sheet in the kit reviews.

Me too, the sad man that I am, if I find my concentration wavering too long at work, I'll often look through some kit instructions on SM, either of something I already have in my stash, or something I am thinking of buying, great way to spend 20 mins if you ask me